My original steering box was leaking very badly. I went to a classic car shop to have it looked at. The guy said I needed a new box so I went ahead and had him put a new one in. After it was done I went to pick it up and he said it was going to be hard to steer as there is a "break in" period and he said I needed to drive it to get it to a smooth point. My brother in law disagrees with this and said it should steer smoothly from the start. It is very hard to steer. Is the classic car shop correct or is my brother in law? If there is no such thing as a break in period what could be the trouble with it? I am getting a kit to fix the original and may put that one back in or have it for a spare. Thanks for your input.
The guy is full of it. Steering boxes work with internal gears, they get lubed by power steering fluid and endplay adjusted by the bolt and nut on top of the box. The box is either binding inside (bad box) or he adjusted it too tight, although the adjustment is preset from the factory. Its and easy swap, DIY....
Sounds fishy. Sure it's new? Or did he replace the seals, crank the adjustment screw down to remove all the slop, paint it, and charge you for new box?
As ramair68 mentioned, the adjustment is for set up from the factory. You can use it to get rid of a tiny bit of play if the box is slightly worn, but more than that is going to cause binding and really fast wear. From the sounds of it, either the it was set wrong at the factory, or by the rebuilder (if it's a reman), or the shop did a hillbilly rebuild on your old box.
thanks for the reply. He gave me the original box back and my old pitman arm. He showed me the slop in the pitman arm and so he replaced that too. But it steers like there is no fluid it in. To drive it I need both hands on the wheel to turn it. But the box and pitman arm are new. So I live in an area that has little classic car repair shops and so I need to find another place to check this out. But he was insistent on it needing to be driven to get the box to have smooth steering over time.
I guess he could have pulled a fast one and had another steering box on hand and installed it. I am not sure. I havent been under the car since he worked on it. by the way my car is a 68 deluxe model.